Tornado in Mississippi, March 18, 1996

Name: Tornado in Mississippi, March 18, 1996
Start: 1996-03-18T16:45
End: 1996-03-18T17:09
Location: Mississippi

March 18, 1996 · NWS MOB · 1 event in 1 county or zone

THE SAME STORM SYSTEM DROPPED ANOTHER TORNADO ABOUT NINE MILES SOUTHWEST OF BUCKATUNNA. THE TORNADO MOVED EAST NORTHEAST AND PASSED NEAR THE CITY OF BUCKATUNNA.

Where it happened

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Tornadoes
Tropical storms and surge
Floods
Wind
Hail
Winter weather
Heat and drought
Cold
Fire, smoke and dust
Marine and coastal
Other

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The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $40,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 1

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS MOB wrote it up.

THE SAME STORM SYSTEM DROPPED ANOTHER TORNADO ABOUT NINE MILES SOUTHWEST OF BUCKATUNNA. THE TORNADO MOVED EAST NORTHEAST AND PASSED NEAR THE CITY OF BUCKATUNNA. THE TORNADO CONTINUED ON ACROSS U. S. HIGHWAY 45 AND THEN LIFTED BACK INTO THE CLOUD JUST BEFORE ENTERING INTO SOUTHWEST ALABAMA, ABOUT THREE MILES NORTHEAST OF BUCKATUNNA. THE TORNADO SKIPPED ALONG THE GROUND MOSTLY ALONG OPEN FARM LAND FOR ABOUT TWELVE MILES. DAMAGE WAS CONFINED TO MOSTLY DOWNED TREES AND POWER LINES. IN THE CITY OF BUCKATUNNA, SOME HOMES SUFFERED MINOR ROOF DAMAGE FROM SHINGLES BEING BLOWN OFF AND ALSO FROM TREES BEING BLOWN ON HOMES. NO INJURIES WERE REPORTED.

The radar

The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.

Open the radar archive at this moment

Event by event

1 tornado. Local standard time, as filed.

Tornado, Wayne

When: March 18, 4:45 PM CST to 5:09 PM CST
Where: Wayne County, Buckatunna to 9 mi NE of Buckatunna
Rating: F0
Path length: 12 mi
Path width: 200 yd
Property damage: $40,000
Coordinates: 31.430, -88.630

What these are

Tornado: A violently rotating column of air in contact with the ground and extending from a thunderstorm, filed with its path, width and Fujita or Enhanced Fujita rating from the damage survey.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Mississippi in 1996 Every state in 1996 This day in weather history The tornado archive for Mississippi, 1996 Warnings in Mississippi, March 1996

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5552290.